Journey into New Jersey

Continued from last post...

When Sunday came, I was woefully unprepared for what I would encounter while driving into New Jersey. My non WoW friends warned me that driving in New Jersey is like driving in a different country. The rules, and the drivers, are different. One friend also told me that they will close down highways in New Jersey for no reason. I have discovered that this is the truth.

After I picked up my two friends, our goal was to drive an hour to North Jersey, where the party was taking place. My GPS system led me to a number of major highways. I discovered, much to my chagrin, that these highways were blocked off by police. One of my friends noticed that the road flares the police had used were burned down to the ground, and they were lighting new ones. "This means they've been blocking this route for a long time," he said. The radio provided no news as to why these roads were closed.

My GPS "recalculated" new routes, each of them taking me towards different entrances on the same highway. After finding three closed ramps, we finally found a way onto the highway. We drove seven miles through traffic only to find that the police had put out road cones as a detour to get everyone off of the highway and back on... in the other direction!

After backtracking for six miles, we exited the highway at the first opportunity and used local roads to work our way further north. By now, I had been driving for three and a half hours. After some time, we managed to find the last highway that would lead us directly to the party. The only problem was that the road was full of ice, and the hills on this road became dangerous.

It took us another hour before we finally made it to our friend's house in northern New Jersey. A two hour trip ended up being four and a half hours total, but it was worth it. I had a great time meeting friends I had only spoken to via computer, and the drive home was easier and more painless.

I don't think I will be afraid to make such long journeys in the future, but I will always be wary of road closings if I'm ever going to drive in New Jersey again.

Vocabulary

woefully - lamentably bad or serious
highways - roads with a high speed limit that allow drivers to drive great distances in short amounts of time
chagrin - dismay, distress
road flares - sticks that are designed to keep a flame lit for a period of time, often used by police to divert traffic
detour - a change in route or course
local roads - roads with a low speed limit, where one might find houses or small businesses
wary - to be aware, to know

Vocabulary Exercise

There was an accident on the ________ which had us caught in traffic for hours.
My final exam was difficult, much to my ________.
Always be ________ of your personal belongings when you travel.
The police used ________ to signal to us that we had to go a different way.
As much as I like highways, sometimes I prefer to take ________ to get a better view of the neighborhood.
I took an unusual ________ and wound up in another state!
"I think we're lost," he said ________, with a frown.

Grammar Point

There are three articles that we use on a regular basis: a, an, & the. We use 'a' & 'an' when we're introducing new information, such as "a detour" or "an hour." These are called indefinite articles. We use 'the' to introduce information that is known, such as "the party" that I wrote about in my previous entry. This is using a definite article. Want to know more about using articles? Check out this site: http://www.johnsesl.com/templates/grammar/articles.php